Monday, March 16, 2009

away






















Miranda Lake


I'm off for a few days to write, visit, walk by some water,
look at my quote un quote manuscript, clear out a bit.

Here's a poem by Rusty Morrison from her book,
The True Keeps Calm Biding Its Story, which uses
the language of the telegraph -- as in "stop" at 
the end of a line -- as a kind of structure for 
connection or maybe missed connections. 
I've just started to read it.
The effect is disarming, somewhat annoying as I imagine
is the intention. She just won an award from the academy
of american poets. The book is published by a press I
admire, Ahsahta, which makes really lovely books.
I think I'll add this to my book bag. 
(Of course blogger screws up line breaks in poems 
like this.)


please advise stop

like water-spiders on a pond the hours pass overhead stop
with each perfected dexterity I thin the surface that carries me stop
traces of an otherwise indiscernible consensus collect under my fingernails please

his face isn't lost to me but traveling now and mostly untended stop
hereafter wil I apply rules and avoid content stop
braid wildflower stems peeled of petals stop

scrub gently with a brush to relieve us of the historical present please
listen for the entire circumference of the screen door's arc but hear only it slap stop
even incoherent babbling is usually phonetically accurate please advise







2 comments:

apprentice said...

Hmm, i was glad it was short poem, as it does start to drill into your head. I'm not sure about it as a device, it seems to detract more than add to me.

Enjoy your break. We can maybe "talk" on your return.

Pam said...

You're right about the drilling effect...and many of the other poems feature the device...I emailed you. I'm back!